David Foster’s music director, Matt Dela Pola, told me about this new band David had discovered (He’s also the Executive Producer on the CD), Dirty Loops. I immediately went to listen, okay, watch and listen… on YouTube since everything Foster is up my alley. Well, these guys are not another Michael Bublé, or Josh Groban. Dirty Loops‘ debut album, Loopified, is on my iPod non-stop. The Swedish trio are most famous for their online covers of Justin Bieber’s “Baby,” Adele’s “Rolling in the Deep“. I just got the trio’s own 12-song album, in a word – BRILLIANT!

The style is hard to pin down. The tracks list, when imported to my iTunes, says “Indie Rock”. The reality is, this is true fusion. Pop meets rock, meets funk, meets jazz fusion, meets incredible technique… you get my drift. I am hard pressed to articulate what the style should be labeled as.

Tight would be one way of describing their music. As a brass player, I am amazed at the phrasing Jonah plays on the keyboards. It’s not just the intervals, but the drop offs that sound so much like a brass section. You’ll know what I mean when you listen to “The Way She Walks” and “Roller Coaster”, it’s almost eerie.

“Hit Me”, does just that, the tune is a driving, funky groove with a quasi-boy band vibe. “Sexy Girls”, though the weakest song on the disc, lyrically, adds to the same formula- a little techno for good measure. “Sayonara Love” mixes R &B with virtuoso slap-bass that is just plain fun.

“Wake Me Up” is a more traditional pop sound until the band start changing the changes. The chord structure gets an almost Fusion Jazz treatment as the melody get lifted differently as the baseline takes creative license. “Die For You” starts out with heavenly vocals lulling the listener into a false sense of peace, the tune turns into a pounding stereo stressing test. If you have a convertible, this is a great top-down tune.

Just when you think you have this band pigeonholed, they hit you with “It Hurts” and poignant ballad about the pain felt when love ends. The melody could be on an Andrea Bocelli album, although these guys find a way to modernize this sound and make you want more. “Crash and Burn Delight” takes the listener on a similar journey of angst. Vocally, there’s a lot there, these guys are legit, and they surprise you with tone and subtlety.

“Take on the World” has an almost soundtrack feel and “Roller Coaster” an arrangement of the Justin Bieber song features synth brass, slap bass and astounding solos from all three members of the band. Making Bieber listenable speaks to their creativity for sure!

“Accidentally in Love” could have been a Stevie Wonder song with its mix of gospel and Motown.

Where there the band is on the cusp of overplaying in the flat-out sections, they are deft at leaving space when needed. With Dirty Loops, each player is a virtuoso in their own right. Together they have created something that is really special.

I’m looking forward to seeing and listening to the band play in Seattle this November. If the energy is even close to what’s on the CD, I’ll be spent by the end of their show. If you want a “high-energy”, “get you going” disc, this will blow you away!

Out of work music teachers are a dime a dozen these days as schools cut the “inessential” subject of music, but are we actually leaving out the one class that sparks the brain like no other?

It’s hard to find a person who likes no music at all, though tastes differ drastically, yet it’s the people playing that music who are getting the real buzz according to this animated TED-Ed talk from Anita Collins.

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I sang with Sarah McLachlan! Yup, this past March at B.C. Place, I sang “O Canada” with Sarah and 54,000 other hockey fans.

Her latest album is mostly inspired by personal tragedy, with subject matter that one might expect from album filled with misery. Well, Shine On is not that – Sarah writes and sings about hope in the midst of pain. Shine On is her eighth studio album, I have the other 7. This CD is dedicated to her father, who passed away in 2010, it includes a few songs dealing directly with his death, and much of the music helps us understand how to cope with pain and loss.

Shine On starts with its most upbeat and optimistic songs. On “In Your Shoes,” accompanied by spiccato strings, McLachlan sings about moving on and carving her own path. Not known for humor, Sarah delivers a great punch line on one of the album’s best songs, “Monsters.” While itemizing numerous types of monstrous creatures —from two-faced boyfriends to unscrupulous business associates – she ironically states “Think what your life would be missing if you didn’t have him to sing about.”

Of course Sarah is at her best when singing the forlorn ballad, her voice personifying heartache. It’s what made her famous and the go-to for all sad moments in TV soundtracks. “You were the star by which I light my way/ so how do I find my way now?”she mourns on “Surrender and Certainty.” Led by guitar picking rather than from the piano bench, “Song for my Father,” Sarah honors her late father’s “constant unwavering heart”and sings of how he always helped her through difficult times, being “the place that I could always rest my head.” The call-and-response between Sarah and the trumpet echoesthe musical voice of her father.

 “Love Beside Me” offers balance from the melancholy. Playing a funky electric piano in lieu of her characteristicgrand piano, her energetic grooves breakthrough the haze, McLachlan’s voice is inspired as she sings about learning from past mistakes. “Brink of Destruction”is another ballad, sung in 6/8time, keeps the melody moving forward. Though the title might suggest despair, I found it uplifting in its honesty. “Beautiful Girl” is the most stripped down tune of the collection. Instrumentation gets out of the way of Sarah’s lilting voice with her doubling on background vocals, as well. Shine On ends with its warmest track, “The Sound That Love Makes.” After more than a few songs contemplating death, shattered relationships and anguished comes a blatant happy love song. Reminiscent of Colbie Caillat, a cheery ukulele replaces somber piano chords. Love is the one emotion powerful enough to break through the grieving process and shines its light of hope. “I’m seeing the sun in all the greyest skies,”Sarah sings at her most optimistic self.

I waited a long time to add this disc to my collection, and it didn’t disappoint me at all. In fact, there are a couple of tunes that will hit the radio this summer I’m sure.